Silay nodded. “We’re taught some
basic camping skills too. The hope is that training us in the basic skills a
Hero would find useful will make it more likely that one of us will become one.
But after Fortune Day, we’re apprenticed to those whose jobs best match our
destiny. And that’s the end of Hero training.”

“Unless,” Jarlen added, “your
destiny is to be a Hero.”

“Like Talis?” asked Riya.

“I don’t think Talis’ destiny was
to be Hero. It was one of the destinies we call ‘hero-like’, like being great,
or becoming famous. But, yes, he was trained like he was going to be a Hero.”

“Horseback riding, sword fighting,
woodcraft, and basic medicine.” Jarlen listed some of the skills Talis would
have been taught, and Silay nodded her head in agreement.

“So what about you?” Riya looked
over at Silay. “You said you weren’t given a destiny.”

Silay shrugged. “That was the end
of my training. No one would take me as an apprentice, so I stayed at home and
learned what I could by watching other people.”

“Ah.” Riya thought about this for a
moment. “But at least you were taught something. Most towns don’t have anything
like that.”

“Dagrosa is very different from
most towns”. Jarlen’s voice had a sense of finality in it, ending the conversation.
“But none of that matters now, or will ever matter again. Not unless something
happens to stop the plague.”

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Because keeping dialogue straight between two characters wasn't challenging enough, I felt the need to add another. You know, just to keep things confusing for me. Hopefully, it won't be confusing to you who is speaking. Feel free to let me know if you ever spot any major errors, or find something that doesn't make sense in the story. The fun thing about the way I'm writing is that you can give input during the writing process.